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Month: July 2012

We had a full day yesterday! I took the kids to the Orem Library and that went so much better then expected! Ciara has actually never been to the library before but both kids picked out books and enjoyed doing it. We even read some books there. We rented a total of 12 books! Our reading before bed became much more fun! We haven’t bought any new books for a while so it was getting a little old. So it was a great way to spice things up.

We found a park right next to the library and chilled out there. It was smokin hot so when we left I got the kids icy cold drinks. Ciara is learning her colors and she kept telling me that she loves the pink slide. This park had the tallest slides I have ever seen! But both my kids were dare devils and went down them without a problem.

One of our favorite things to do is color with chalk. My kids are totally spoiled and wont do anything unless I am doing it to so I just made the classic Sara loves Benjamin. But Caleb followed my example and wrote Daddy a note. It was the cutest thing ever!!

I made Ciara a little dress. It was actually really easy. She calls it her fairy dress and she kept spinning around in circles. She actually wore the top part while I tied on the strips, and she would giggle every time I had to touch her little tummy. Ciara is my little princess.

When Caleb walks to friends house Ciara and I walk around while she pushes her babies around. She will actually tell me that her babies need to go on a walk because they need to go night night. She loves to push the babies around.

Caleb came back from friends house and saw the dog just chillin so he laid down next to Simba. Such a funny kid.

Yet again the weather was expected to rain so we decided not to camp. But we wanted to visit the family camping spot and go fishing. We brought lots of food, bait, and of course our dog! It was a great trip! To get to Fur Lake you have to hike in but the kids did great! Caleb helped pack in the fishing stuff and Ciara walked most of the way! When we got there it was blue skies and we set out to catch us some fish! We bought Ciara a little barbie practice fishing pole that came with a little rubber fish to help practice casting. She loves this pole! She would slap the little rubber fish into the water and splash her Mommy and then giggle. Caleb was teaching his little sister how to use a fishing pole and it was just adorable!Caleb and Daddy got the other poles in the water.

Caleb is absolutely a fisherman. He is just so passionate about it. One of the poles got snagged on the rocks and Daddy went in to get it. I took a picture of him going in but he turned around to tell me it was cold and that his pleurisy was acting up.

There is a large log that has fallen into the lake and I asked Ben to climb out on it. He is such a great sport and did it.

Simba had so much fun out there! He had us all laughing when he chased a bird through the big plants there. He looked like a lion chasing down his prey. When the bird flew off he looked at us like he was embarassed that he didn’t catch it.Ciara has learned how to make a “silly” face from the show Yo Gaba Gaba and its her favorite face to make at me. So we had fun making faces in the camera.

We didnt catch anything but it was great family time. We left right before it started to rain which made for a beautiful drive down the mountain. The views were just beautiful.

Over the summer I don’t watch Kaiah and Maisie very often but when I do the girls have a blast. I think they really enjoy each others company. Grandpa Walker gave Ciara a little play kitchen that Kaiah just loves! They spend lots of time “cooking” me things to eat. They even come over and take my order. Ciara picked out pink hello kitty rain boots and wears them ALL the time! They are her favorite shoes.

We were all dancing when Kaiah and Ciara started talking about horses. Kaiah drops to her knees and tells Ciara to ride the horsie. Ciara loved this idea and jumped right on. Kaiah wouldn’t go anywhere until Ciara would stand a little and they would walk together. They were both laughing so hard! Especially when Ciara would fall off.

Then Kaiah wanted a turn to ride Ciara the horsie but Ciara gave up and they both landed on the floor! This is the cutest thing the girls have ever done!!

All four kids and I walked down to our little park. Kaiah found our sand toys and was totally stoked to try them out and Ciara was wanting to go to the swings, like always. Caleb walked in between the girls and they both reached up and held Calebs hand the whole walk. I think Caleb was feeling pretty special. Maisie rode in my big stroller like a champ!

The girls were in the swings for a long time! They kept giggling to each other. Caleb found his buddy that lives near by and went to play while I pushed the girls and laughed with baby Maisie.We walked down to the sand area and everyone played together. Maisie LOVED the sand. I would burry her little feet in the sand and she would stick her toe out and I would tickle it, then she would make a loud laugh and start to wiggle. Caleb buried the toys in the sand with his friend, put a stick to mark the spot and dig it back up saying he found a dinosaur bone. Playing in the sand is serious business.

We washed our feet off in the little stream near by. Then the kids raced to the fence and back over and over. We do this all the time, but its so much more fun with friends around!

Caleb and I really wanted to go camping last weekend but the weather kept us from going. But we wanted to try out our tent for the first time this summer. It was a little windy in our yard and it sprinkled but the three of us laid in the tent and told each other scary stories. Whenever the wind would blow Ciara would say “Scary!” and then giggle really loud. Caleb told us about some scary dreams. It was so much fun just hanging out in the tent with my kids and pretending that we were really camping. Ben had to stay late at work but surprised us by making bear noises outside the tent. It was lots of fun.

Last sunday we went to Heber and visited with Josh and Jessica. Ciara was able to hold baby Mac but the pictures of them came out to blurry. But baby Mac enjoyed riding the pony at Grandmas house.

We bought some sand toys when we went to the lake in Heber but it was to muddy to play. So I took the kids down to our park area and let them play in the sand in the volleyball courts. I didn’t realize what serious work playing in the sand is. It was the perfect weather, there was lots of cloud coverage so it was nice and cool. Then a thunder storm blew over to Orem across the lake and we watched the lightning flash. It was really pretty.

What I didn’t realize was that you had to teach kids how to make a sand castle. For some reason I thought that just comes with being a kid. So I showed them how and Caleb went to town building a great castle.. until Ciara knocked it down. Caleb wasn’t even mad. Ciara was laughing so hard when she knocked down all the sand castles.

Then we walked over to the lake and put our hands in the water. This bothered Caleb, he was so scared that she could fall into the water that we actually got in a fight. I let Ciara reach into the water, with my hands around her feet so I could grab her if she lost her balance but Caleb didn’t think this was safe enough. He would pull her back up which would make Ciara scream because she just wanted to touch the water like everyone else. Sometimes Caleb is very protective over his little sister. He is such a good big brother.

We walked over to the swing set and the kids played. Ciara is a little monkey holding onto the monkey bars. She loves to climb! Caleb sprinted a couple times down to the lake and back. He says he really wants to play football some day and make lots of money.

Ciara is obsessed with bubbles recently. Everyday she asks me for bubbles. We happen to be out of bubbles today and while I was cleaning the pool I realized I could make a giant bubble bath. I know, really simple, but the idea just never came till now. I used the kids tear free shampoo and a little Palmolive dish soap (which counteracts the tear free, but it wasn’t bubbly enough for me) and the kids went to town. We ended up washing the slide and everything was super slippery and fun. This simple change to our pool kept my kids busy for over 2 hours. What was cool is the change in bubble side with how hard or far away the hose was. The kids also liked to throw bubble balls around.

We ended up putting them up on the tramp and jumping and rolling around in them. At first I didn’t really want to get all that wet but Caleb went down the slide super fast and it sloshed soapy water all over me! So.. there were no excuses, I got in. Ciara kept laughing so hard at everything. She loves everything to do with bubbles, and she was covered in them. We had lots of fun. I love to see my kids play so hard and so well together.

This was a great activity for us today because I was feeling a little down. We have spent the day together and it has just cheered me right up. I LOVE my kids!!

Every Sunday we make it a tradition to go see Ben’s parents in Heber. (Im sure I have mentioned this but yeah..) We had an extra treat since Braxton, Aarons son was visiting. We brought lots of our toys so the kids could play. I loved how happy Braxton seemed to be for this visit. The Kids got along just great! Everyone was pretty happy.

We wanted to have a choice of what meal to eat. So we made nachos with guacamole and pho with pot stickers. It was so yummy. We found some ramen style pho packets so it was really easy to make. So we had a feast fit for kings 🙂

Jeff looked so nice, he was feeling well enough to go to church so I snapped some pictures with him and the boys. I think my favorite part of the day was wrestling with my Caleb and husband. I showed Caleb how to arm wrestle. I couldn’t stop giggling. We also played thumb wars. Caleb is a lot of fun to play with. He is a buff kid! Then I wrestled Ben and I laughed the hardest. For such a little man he is super strong! Lets just say, Im super impressed.Grandma did her nails while we were there. She also painted Ciaras nails. Then Ciara took a grey color and hid, then painted all of her hands and face. Looked like she had a little stash and a grey tear. Then Grandma had to take off the polish which was the not fun part.

Another great visit with the family. I was also able to see my mama before the weekend, and she just looked so pretty! 🙂

After clenching our teeth all night on the 4th hearing the fireworks and knowing there are already fires burning all over Utah it was a great thing to see the rain today. I caught Caleb stepping outside and enjoying the feel of rain on his face. Beautiful.